Expert insight: Should you tell a date you're using Ozempic? The GLP-1 disclosure dilemma
Health studies professor Treena Orchard examines a ZipHealth survey on whether single people tell dates they use GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and the stigma behind staying quiet.
Treena Orchard, an associate professor in Western’s School of Health Studies, looks at how people handle telling a date that they use GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Mounjaro or Wegovy. Her commentary first ran in The Conversation. She notes there is little independent, peer-reviewed research so far.
She cites a self-published survey by ZipHealth, a telehealth company that sells GLP-1 access, of 1,000 single Americans. Of the 5.1 per cent currently on the drugs and 4.2 per cent who had used them, 74 per cent dated while using them and reported positive outcomes.
Over half disclosed to their dates, and around 85 per cent of them got a neutral or positive reaction. But 43 per cent did not disclose. Reasons included that it felt too personal (19 per cent), was not relevant (17 per cent) or was embarrassing (12 per cent).
Orchard says the reluctance points to stigma about fatness and beliefs that weight loss should come through diet and exercise.
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